War and Peace Volume 4, Part 4, Chapter 1 Summary

1812-13

  • Andrei is dead, and Marya and Natasha just shut down. Every reminder of him is painful and sad, and they just hang out depressed together.
  • After a while, Marya has to get it together. She’s got Nikolenka to raise and needs to snap out of it.
  • Natasha still sits around totally broken and catatonic, just staring into space day in and day out. What’s she thinking about? Andrei, obviously. She’s having imaginary conversations with him over and over again.
  • One day, the maid comes in. There’s been a letter about Petya. Uh oh, this can’t be good.